Cult-Classic : Essie Chinchilly

When Essie announced Chinchilly as their color of the month for March, I knew it was a great time to write about this pretty neutral. It's been sitting in a folder marked "cult-classics" since I started this series in 2015! I consider Chinchilly a cult-classic because it's one of those shades that you just KNOW about from Essie.

This polish gained quite the popularity when it was first released in 2009 and ended up being added to the permanent line because of it. It came out in the 'Cuddle With Color' Fall Collection, along with popular faves like Angora Cardi, Midnight Cami and Mink Muffs. When Chinchilly came on the scene, it was a pretty unique color. No one had really seen a grey with taupe undertones. Usually grey polishes had blue undertones, so this new grey mixed with beige was a whole new color dubbed 'greige'!

Chinchilly is among Essie Weingarten's top 9 favourite Essie shades. She said in an interview "Once you try it, this timeless greige will get you hooked forever! It did for me. It was a big breakthrough as the first true greige on the market."

Personally, I find this shade of granite grey very chic. It's a great neutral you can just throw on and look fantastic in.

Essie manicurist Michelle Saunders claimed in an interview that Chinchilly is the best dark polish for fair skin tones. "For [those with fair skin who] want to dip their toes into a dark shade, but not go too dark, my pick is Chinchilly. It's like a deep neutral, almost like a warm gray." So true, this polish is a gorgeous 'dark' polish for fair skin but also beautiful on basically any skin tone (see HERE).

This polish has a thinner, somewhat crelly-like formula. Depending on how long your nails are, you may need 2 coats or 3. I didn't find this polish difficult to apply and it looked best with 3 coats plus top coat.

It's been awhile since I've worn this one, but I'm totally loving it! Chinchilly was actually the second Essie I ever purchased. I quit biting my nails in 2012 and immediately went to the drugstore to pick out some polish to keep me from biting. Those elegant square bottles and white caps called to me! I originally went home with Tart Deco but it didn't take me long before I was back at the store and picking out Chinchilly. Do you own this one? What are your thoughts?